Hood Joplin
Canadian DJ, producer and rapper Hood Joplin (Sarah Ahmad) is one of the best alive when it comes to producing blistering club beats. As a member of the Kudatah collective, her body of work is an enthralling mix of sounds that touches upon various elements of rap, footwork, jungle, futurepop and trap. Born and raised in Millwoods, Alberta – one of Canada’s most diverse neighbourhoods – Joplin’s journey in music began as a young girl borrowing tapes from her older siblings that spanned the spectrum in music before she eventually discovered rap music and fell in deep.
Before long, she spent a lot of time locked in her room, making beats that started out as sample-based boom-bap before giving way to glitchy loops and high-energy edits that would find their way online to a receptive audience. In summer 2016, her debut EP #75FFA1 was independently released via Drama Hands, an Edmonton-based netlabel. Named after the HTML colour hex, the release opened the door for more profile mixes and shows with DJs like DJ Taye, Flying Lotus, Robert Hood and Chippy Nonstop.
In 2017, Joplin would follow up with the incendiary debut album HAZARD, released via Owake Records. In 2020, she teamed up with close collaborator Text Chunk to release the nine-track Bank Account (Moveltraxx), a collection of riotous tracks that refuse to let up upon first listen. The collaborative release picked up coverage from outlets like Hyponik and Complex, who named “Keepflowin’” as the unofficial anthem of the 2019 Dekmantel Festival where the song found a place in many DJ sets at the festival.
Amid these projects, Hood Joplin has curated many DJ mixes for a variety of outlets including Thump, Purple Sneakers and Untitled #909, all the while contributing tracks to various compilations, served as a 2019 Red Bull Music Academy Bass Camp alumni and a Serato Sample Challenge finalist.
Before long, she spent a lot of time locked in her room, making beats that started out as sample-based boom-bap before giving way to glitchy loops and high-energy edits that would find their way online to a receptive audience. In summer 2016, her debut EP #75FFA1 was independently released via Drama Hands, an Edmonton-based netlabel. Named after the HTML colour hex, the release opened the door for more profile mixes and shows with DJs like DJ Taye, Flying Lotus, Robert Hood and Chippy Nonstop.
In 2017, Joplin would follow up with the incendiary debut album HAZARD, released via Owake Records. In 2020, she teamed up with close collaborator Text Chunk to release the nine-track Bank Account (Moveltraxx), a collection of riotous tracks that refuse to let up upon first listen. The collaborative release picked up coverage from outlets like Hyponik and Complex, who named “Keepflowin’” as the unofficial anthem of the 2019 Dekmantel Festival where the song found a place in many DJ sets at the festival.
Amid these projects, Hood Joplin has curated many DJ mixes for a variety of outlets including Thump, Purple Sneakers and Untitled #909, all the while contributing tracks to various compilations, served as a 2019 Red Bull Music Academy Bass Camp alumni and a Serato Sample Challenge finalist.